The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1887-01-21

The So-called prosperous classes do theil
+ full share Of drinking but the share that
goes to those workingmen who drink has
become under the aggressive policy of the
saloons, burden greater than they can
bear. and the workingman who himself
avoids the saloon still shares the load.
Both in and ont Of labor unions the sober
and frugal workman carries his drinking
and wasteful comrade on his back. This
law is infexible Workmen whose energy.
trustworthiness and skill are daily i'm
paired at the saloon determine the standard
of wages for vast industries. BY their in
capacity through drink they fix a low
average Of daily production in great estab-
lishments. and wages seek a corresponding
level
.tfhe irrepressible conflict between the
saloon system and the public welfare re-
manned a local and subordinate matte un-
til the liquor traffic took the offensive and
by successive and rapid aggressions in
yaded every place, however sacred, viola
ted every restraining law. however moder-
ate, and new avowedly aims at complete
political domination by debauehing the
ballot and the Legislature.
Fer the truth and justice of this in
dictment We appeal to the open book of
current history and to every law-abiding
citizen who knows whereof he speaks.
Two factors combine to render the
liquor traffic the incendiary thing it is
the weakness and depravity Of its drinking
victims, and mainly. our aggressive and
criminal system of open SALOONS. These
are the powder and the torch whose unre-
strained contact curses society and threat
ems civilization itself With either factor
removed the curse and the danger would
be virtually ended. Only moral pressure.
acting through the centuries, can reach the
former. Only legal weapons, whose action
may be made swift and conclusive, can
reach the latter
Oh. what glorious truth. they know
these things. they know that
There enter the prnde and the rsprolate boy
The mother OF grief and this daughter ct joy:
The sewing maid slim and The serving niau
stout,
They quietly steal in and they slowly reel ont.
>urcharged with the venom. some walk forth
erect.
Apparently baffiing it, deadly effect,
But or later. the reckoning arrives
And ninety nine perish for one whosnrviye-.' :
They know the truth Of " hat they adopt
ed as their platform Ii is Just what the
Prohibition party has been endeayorihe to
educate the people, blinded as they are
with the glttering gold of the rumseller.
their own ruinous appetites and their po-
litcal fealty, to believe. There is nothing
new in this Indictment. All that it contains
has been recognized fact for some time.
and it suddenly dawns ON the better ele-
ment of the Republican party that their
party has not been as yirtuous regarding
the rum traffic as it should be, but it is a
most significant fact that the scales did not
drop from their eyes relative to the horrors
of that traffic which their party so tender
ly nursed and fostered until they viewed
With alarm the tremendous strides te sue
cess the Prohibition army is yearly max
ing. They tell us that the anti-saloon Re
publican recognizes all the evils. which
they then go on to ennmerate, but they
don't tell you that they denounced those
same sentiments as emenating from eranks
and fanatics Until they were forced TO
swallow them themselves by the onward
movement of Gods cause. This platform
also says I'VE proclaim ii conjunction
with ''we recognize. In this they are en-
tirely mistaken, all the said facts having
been time and again proclaimed by the
Prohibition party long before any such
thing as a Republican anti-Saloon conven-
tion was thought of.
They say 'whateyerthe American liquor
traffic may once have been ii is no longer a
legitimate, law abiding branch of trade.
We differ widely with them here. for we
proclaim that it nevaF was legitimate,
law abiding branch of trade, but we do adj
greatly degenerated, il such thing were
possible. from the time when rum was
commodity in every grocery store, but as
to its being law abiding traffic, it never
could be and consequently could net be a
legitimate one. ! suppose, and reasonably
too. that they are trying to ease their con
sciences for the support that their party
has been giving this pernicious traffic foi
twcnty-ionr years when they say what
ever il may once have been.
How do they propose to remedy the evil?
Why by Local Option. That practically
means Prohibition where the rum element
are not in large numbers, or in other words
ia spots, as it were, enforced no doubt by
their own party, and every Prohibitionist
knows what that means, while what we
want. ask for and will have is the total and
entire prohibition of this evil from city,
country, village and borough by stue
and national constitutional amendment.
We an know how small We ereeiye any
object in looking through the largeend ef
an opera glass This is about the way the
two old parties have been viewing the Pro
hibition vote and ! suppose viii view it I'M
til they find they have been holding their
glass the wrong way and by the time they
can turn it to the proper position will find
themselves beaten by the overwhelmin &
tide Of public sentiment and the white